CaixaBank will Occupy Norman Foster’s New Building in Colón (Madrid)

4 June 2019 – Voz Pópuli

According market sources, CaixaBank has won the bid to acquire the iconic glass-cube Axis building that Normal Foster is building in Plaza de Colón in Madrid.

The bank has reportedly fought off competition from Tesla and Microsoft and so the property will be occupied by a sole tenant, rather than by various shops and offices as initially envisaged.

The building work is expected to be completed at the end of this year and the property will comprise three open-plan floors, with large transparent façades overlooking Plaza de Colón and Calle de Génova, as well as a rooftop terrace.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by David Cabrera)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Family Office Puts Tesla’s Store on c/Serrano Up For Sale for €7M

18 April 2018 – Eje Prime

The retail sector is hotting up in Madrid. A Spanish family office has put up for sale the store at number 3 Calle Serrano, which is occupied by Tesla, the company specialising in electric cars and led by Elon Musk. Although sources close to the operation have explained to Eje Prime that the process to receive offers has already begun, the estimated price of the asset is around €7 million.

This store has been occupied by Tesla since last September after it signed a lease contract that will continue in force following the sale. The asset has a retail surface area of 247 m2 spread over two floors. There, Tesla has a showroom, a warehouse and the group’s offices in Spain. According to real estate market sources, the consultancy firm CBRE is exclusively leading the sales process.

In recent months, the retail sector has been reactivated in the Spanish capital, with both the placing of premises on the market and the renovation of assets for their subsequent rental. The latest to be added to the portfolio of establishments for sale was the branch that Bankia owns at number 1 Calle Alcalá.

Although the bank already initiated an auction, which was attended by funds such as Arcano and real estate groups such as Renta, who were offering approximately €18 million for the premises, Bankia has decided to wipe the slate clean and launch a new auction process, through which it hopes to raise at least €20 million.

The asset, which, given its façade appeals more to restaurant operators than fashion retailers, is spread over two floors: the first floor spans 458 m2, whilst the basement measures 405 m2.

And from premises for sale to premises sold. In March, the fund manager IBA Capital, together with CBRE Global Investment, finally completed the sale of number 9 Calle Preciados, in Madrid, to the real estate investment vehicle of the insurance company Generali, Generali Real Estate. The Italian group paid €100 million for the asset, which is going to house Pull&Bear’s future flagship store on this high street, one of the most expensive in Spain for opening a store (…).

Investor appetite in 2018 

After closing 2017 with a total investment of €3.5 billion, the sector started 2018 with retail assets up for sale worth €2.5 billion. Moreover, during the course of this year, the volume of retail space on the national map is forecast to increase by 500,000 m2.

At the moment, shopping centres worth €2 billion are up for sale, along with high street products worth another €500 million. This situation guarantees a high degree of product availability for the segment, which is ideal at a time when Spain is very much in the firing line of international investors.

The influence of the retail market on the tertiary sector in 2017 is evidenced by the statistic that 38% of all transactions completed in this market involved retail assets, allowing retail assets to exceed office buildings for the first time ever.

With a volume increase of 36% over the last year, several large shopping centre openings are scheduled for 2018 including Open Sky in Madrid, which will see the arrival of Compagnie de Phalsbourg in Spain, after investing €160 million in the complex.

Similarly, in the Community of Madrid, the shutters will be lifted on X-Madrid, owned by Merlin, and in Málaga, McArthurGlen and Sonae Sierra will inaugurate a new designer outlet centre in the capital of the Costa del Sol. The stock of retail surface area in Spain amounts to 16.5 million m2, up by 1.4% YoY.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Luxury Brands Conquer Madrid’s Golden Mile

17 October 2017 – Expansión

Fashion labels such as Sonia Rykiel, Oliver Peoples, Tesla and Audemars Piguet are arriving on the main shopping streets of the Madrilenian neighbourhood of Salamanca, with their first stores in the Spanish market.

The Spanish real estate market is enjoying good times, with investors interested in buying assets and commitments from all kinds of brands to open stores on the country’s main shopping thoroughfares. This interest is very apparent in the Madrilenian neighbourhood of Salamanca, the capital’s luxury shopping area, with the arrival of numerous new brands, such as the car firm Tesla (…).

The exclusive brand behind the 100% electric cars has taken over a store on Calle Serrano in Madrid, just a stone’s throw from Puerta de Alcalá, as Expansión revealed on 2 September. Specifically, Tesla has leased a 275 m2 store, at number 3 on the famous street along the Golden Mile (…).

“The Golden Mile in Madrid is a sought-after area for the majority of the luxury brands that decide to move to the capital. This means that sections  (of the street) that were less appealing until now, such as the uneven side of the road and the bottom section of the street, no longer have as much availability as they used to in previous years. Examples of this are the case of Tesla at number 3, and Malababa at number 8”, explain sources at the consultancy firm Ascana.

Tesla and Malababa are joining Kenzo and Audemars Piguet, the latest luxury brands to open stores on the famous Madrilenian thoroughfare (…).

Other sought-after streets

The commitment to the luxury market does not end on Calle Serrano (…). Adjoining streets, such as Calles Ortega y Gasset, Lagasca and Claudio Coello are also welcoming new international brands. “The interior of the Salamanca neighbourhood has seen the departure of traditional businesses, which cannot afford the current rental prices, and their replacement by premium brands. Not all of the brands can afford to pay for a store on the best stretch of Serrano; such premises are only available to 10% of firms”, says Ignacio Acha, Associate Director of Retail & High Street at Cushman & Wakefield.

“Claudio Coello is continuing to consolidate its position as one of the main thoroughfares in the Salamanca neighbourhood. Several brands are planning to open stores on that street, such as Sonia Rykiel, at number 79, Max Mara Weekend at number 63 and Pedro Miralles, at number 58″, say Ascana’s sources (…).

For brands like that, a store on Serrano or Ortega y Gasset is very expensive. The difference in price between the best store on those streets and on Claudio Coello could be up to three times”, says the Partner at C&W, the consultancy firm that has advised Sonia Rykiel on its operation.

In addition to the upcoming store openings on Claudio Coello, Ortega y Gasset has been selected as the location of choice by another international brand for its debut in Spain. Specifically, the glasses firm Oliver Peoples, owned by the luxury Luxottica group, has taken over the premises on c/Ortega y Gasset, 4, where it will open its first store in the country.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

RE Investors Defy The Secessionist Threat & Back Barcelona

13 June 2017 – Expansión

There is no evidence that any real estate investors have revoked their plans to buy in Cataluña because of the sovereignty process. What’s more, in parallel to the secessionist threat, which was launched five years ago, the volume of investment has actually risen, from €450 million (in 2012) to €1,900 million (in 2016).

At the beginning, the funds expressed their concern and warned that their own bylaws prohibited them from investing outside of the Eurozone, and so if Cataluña became independent, they would be forced to withdraw. But their fear of a possible secession has gradually dissipated and the real estate consultants that advise them in their search for assets in Cataluña state that no one has asked about the issue for months (…).

The CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Spain, Oriol Barrachina, corroborates that in all these years, “not a single operation (…) has failed due to the sovereignty process”. He states that “the economy throws aside all political problems” and Barcelona is growing at the same rate as Madrid, and at an even faster rate in certain segments (…).

The Director of Aguirre Newman in Cataluña, Anna Gener, said that, far from finding investors who are avoiding buying in Barcelona because of the process, she has seen “precisely the opposite trend: real estate operations have been increasingly carried out by international groups”. She explains that “the appetite from foreign funds to invest in Barcelona is increasingly greater and, in fact, the volume of operations is being limited by the shortage of real estate products up for sale: if more assets were to come onto the market, the investment volume would be greater”.

Furthermore, Gener hasn’t detected any impact in terms of the yields demanded either. “The yields at which investment operations are being closed in Barcelona are very similar to those recorded in Madrid”, she said.

In terms of the market of users, at Aguirre Newman, Gener said that “over the last few years, we have not worked with any multi-national company that has wanted to avoid establishing its headquarters in Barcelona for fear of an eventual secession”. The effect has been the opposite: “we have seen a rebound in the number of multi-nationals deciding to establish their headquarters in Barcelona, such as Tesla and Amazon” (…).

Meanwhile, the CEO of JLL in Cataluña, Jordi Guardia, added that the multi-nationals that are establishing their offices in Barcelona and its surrounding areas “are signing contracts with very long timeframes, which undoubtedly indicates a sign of confidence”.

According to Guardia, just like in the investment segment, more operations are not being closed due to the shortage of supply. “No new office buildings have been built for many years and so we now face a significant shortage in terms of availability”, he said. Despite that, very good volumes of office and logistics space are now being leased”.

The warnings from the large international investors regarding their reluctance to invest in a possible independent Cataluña have not only disappeared, they have been turned on their heads. Some of those who warned about the consequences of the secessionist threat a few years ago are now starring in some of the largest investments in Cataluña. Such is the case of the President of Merlin Properties, Ismael Clemente, who warned in 2014 that “the problem with Cataluña was harming the real estate market a lot” –  earlier this year, Merlin acquired Torre Agbar in Barcelona for €142 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake